The Inpatient Mental Health Service at the VA Boston Healthcare System provides comprehensive psychiatric, psychologic, and psychosocial assessments and treatment for our most acutely ill Veterans admitted to our service. Social workers are essential members of our interdisciplinary treatment team. Veterans who are complex require a Senior Social Worker who can provide the highest quality and standard of care.

Duties

The Inpatient Mental Health Senior Social Worker provides direct services to adult and geriatric Veterans admitted to our Inpatient Mental Health units with high quality psychosocial assessments, clinical treatment, treatment planning, individual and group psychotherapy, case management, advocacy, discharge planning, post discharge engagement and coordinates discharges with appropriate VA and community service providers/agencies particularly for the most challenging and complex discharge plans and works independently in the service with minimal supervision. The Inpatient Mental Health Senior Social Worker collaborates with other members of the inpatient interdisciplinary treatment teams, the residential, outpatient and community providers where the social worker provides subject matter consultation to colleagues and/or students. The Senior Social worker possesses advanced knowledge of theories and modalities used in the specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness and can make psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved scope of practice or clinical privileges. The Senior Social Worker possesses advanced and expert skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations and models effective social work practice skills. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Will be determined by the service manager Travel: None Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. Master's degree in Social Work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the school of social work is fully accredited. Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade. Experience: At least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment and are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes. Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills. Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. Preferred Experience Mental Health inpatient setting Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-39 Social Worker Qualification Standard. Physical Requirements: Eligible applicants must be physically and mentally able to perform efficiently the essential functions of the position, without hazard to themselves or others. Depending on the essential duties of a specific position, usable vision, color vision, hearing or speech may be required. However, in most cases, a specific physical condition or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthesis or mechanical aid.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Boston Healthcare System 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 US
• Name: Latenna Shorrow
• Email: [email protected]